{"id":8353,"date":"2025-12-15T23:20:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T23:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/15\/trump-signs-eo-to-classify-illicit-fentanyl-as-weapon-of-mass-destruction-cnn\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T23:20:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T23:20:01","slug":"trump-signs-eo-to-classify-illicit-fentanyl-as-weapon-of-mass-destruction-cnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/15\/trump-signs-eo-to-classify-illicit-fentanyl-as-weapon-of-mass-destruction-cnn\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump signs EO to classify illicit fentanyl as weapon of mass destruction – CNN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> signed an executive order Monday classifying \u201cillicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals\u201d as weapons of mass destruction \u2014 though it was not immediately clear what practical effect that might have. <\/p>\n

\u201cToday I\u2019m taking one more step to protect Americans from the scourge of deadly fentanyl flooding into our country with this historic executive order,\u201d he said in\u200b the Oval Office, adding, \u201cNo bomb does what this is doing.\u201d <\/p>\n

His announcement came as he was honoring US service members with medals \u201cfor their central role in the protection of our border.\u201d <\/p>\n

US law already makes it a crime<\/a> to use, threaten or attempt to use weapons of mass destruction \u2014 an offense that carries a possible death sentence, depending on the circumstances. The law also offers a definition for weapons of mass destruction that includes \u201cany weapon involving a biological agent, toxin, or vector.\u201d <\/p>\n

But Trump can\u2019t change US law via executive order, and one former federal prosecutor specializing in national security matters questioned whether it would have any impact. <\/p>\n

The order<\/a> \u2014 which claims \u201cillicit fentanyl is closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic\u201d \u2014 directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to \u201cimmediately pursue investigations and prosecutions into fentanyl trafficking.\u201d It also directs Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to \u201cpursue appropriate actions against relevant assets and financial institutions in accordance with applicable law for those involved in or supporting the manufacture, distribution, and sale of illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals.\u201d <\/p>\n

The order casts the manufacturing and distribution of fentanyl as a threat to national security. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe production and sale of fentanyl by Foreign Terrorist Organizations and cartels fund these entities\u2019 operations \u2014 which include assassinations, terrorist acts, and insurgencies around the world \u2014 and allow these entities to erode our domestic security and the well-being of our Nation,\u201d the order says. <\/p>\n

Dennis Fitzpatrick, a former national security attorney with the Eastern District of Virginia, labeled the move as a \u201cpolitical exercise,\u201d arguing it will make it \u201cmore difficult\u201d for agents and prosecutors to work under existing drug-trafficking statutes. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe already have statutes on the books that are tested, that prosecutors and agents are accustomed to working with, and they\u2019re very clear, and they accomplish the same goals,\u201d Fitzpatrick told CNN. \u201cThere\u2019s no practical reason to label fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. It\u2019s a political exercise.\u201d <\/p>\n

He added that such a measure should be the purview of Congress. \u201cIt\u2019s naked lawmaking, and this is an area where Congress has the authority, has the responsibility,\u201d Fitzpatrick said. <\/p>\n

Drug overdose deaths in the United States last year made an unprecedented drop to the lowest in five years, according to a federal government estimate released in May. Synthetic opioids \u2013 primarily fentanyl \u2013 continued to be involved in most overdose deaths, the data showed<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Monday\u2019s White House event also revived the \u201cMexican Border Service\u201d medals, which the administration learned were first established<\/a> by Congress in 1918. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur men and women will be wearing that very same medal as Americans 100 years before who were asked to defend the sovereignty of our country,\u201d Hegseth said. <\/p>\n

This story has been updated with additional information. <\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday classifying \u201cillicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals\u201d as weapons of mass destruction \u2014 though it was not immediately clear what practical effect that might have. \u201cToday I\u2019m taking one more step to protect Americans from the scourge of deadly fentanyl flooding into our country with this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}